A scooter is to be understood as muscular-driven, generally a two-wheeled small vehicle, comprising a near-ground footboard on which a person can stand while moving. Here, the person stands with one foot on the footboard while the scooter is driven by pushing movements of the other foot, the pushing foot. Scooters of this kind are known in great quantities.
Further, scooters are offered on the market in the form of children's tricycles comprising a standing platform, whereby the two rear wheels of the scooter are mounted on a common rigid axle.
The standing platform, hence the footboard, is arranged in most cases above this axle, or above and right behind this axle. The disadvantage of these vehicles is that the pushing foot, with the standing foot placed onto the platform, cannot reach the roadway unhindered and effectively because the through-running wheel axle and the platform, as well as the frequently upwards projecting wheels, are interfering so that only small, short-stroke pushing movements of the pushing foot are possible with small effect.
From U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,302 B1 a tricycle is known which is driven forward either by pivoting movements of the body, whereby then both feet of the user rest on small footboards, or the pushing foot can carry out long-stroke foot movements within a free space provided for the pushing foot between an approximately U-shaped frame and the two rear wheels.
For this vehicle as well, an approximately vertically standing steering bar is provided, which is mounted in a bearing bush attached at the front end of the vehicle, and on which the front steering wheel is mounted by means of a fork. The frame of this vehicle has two arms which extend parallel to each other in driving direction and on the rear ends of which, non-steerable wheels are mounted. In the front and the outer area, each of these arms carries a narrow footboard which serves for the reception of the standing foot. The free space between the two outer footboards attached on the arms allows the pushing movements of the pushing foot.
However, this vehicle, which is brought on the market also as an industrial scooter, has the following disadvantages.
During pushing with the pushing foot, the standing foot is placed on one of the two off-centered footboards, thereby causing that the body weight of the driver acts with each pushing process substantially on the outer area, whereby the naturally turbulent pushing process results in an unstable position with the danger of tipping over.
The danger increases when the little-loaded other rear wheel runs over a projecting obstacle, e.g., an elevation of the ground, which can result in that the vehicle upsets sideward.
A further disadvantage is that the driver, during each pushing process, does not stand centered in front of the steering bar with the steering wheel, but laterally thereto so that he has to hold the steering bar comprising break levers attached thereon with laterally offset hands, or he has to bend towards the middle of the steering bar and needs to be supported on the steering bar. Here, it is difficult to precisely guide the steering bar, whereby the driver has to keep a quite uncomfortable and tiring position. Once the driver has reached a certain driving speed with the vehicle after multiple pushing processes, he will put the pushing foot onto the opposite narrow footboard to take a more comfortable position which is less tiring. For this purpose he has to move the pushing foot far outwards and has to place the same precisely onto the narrow footboard. Apart from this process requiring considerable body control, it results furthermore in an unaesthetic, bowlegged, and uncomfortable and unsafe position.